Transfer

Pronunciation

• verb
• RP IPA: /trɑːnsˈfɜː/, /trænzˈfɜː/
• US enPR: trănzfûrʹ, IPA: /trænzˈfɝ/
• noun
• RP IPA: /ˈtrɑːnsfɜː/, /ˈtrænzfɜː/
• US enPR: trănzʹfûr, IPA: /ˈtrænzfɝ/

Origin

From Latin trānsferō ("I bear across").

Full definition of transfer

Verb

1. (transitive) To move or pass from one place, person or thing to another.to transfer the laws of one country to another; to transfer suspicion
2. (transitive) To convey the impression of (something) from one surface to another.to transfer drawings or engravings to a lithographic stone
3. (intransitive) To be or become transferred.
4. (transitive, legal) To arrange for something to belong to or be officially controlled by somebody else.The title to land is transferred by deed.

Synonyms

• (move or pass from one place/person/thing to another) carry over, move, onpass
• (convey impression of from one surface to another) copy, transpose
• (to be or become transferred)

Derived terms

• transferee
• transferor

Noun

1. (uncountable) The act of conveying or removing something from one place, person or thing to another.
2. (countable) An instance of conveying or removing from one place, person or thing to another; a transferal.
• 2012-12-01, An internet of airborne things, A farmer could place an order for a new tractor part by text message and pay for it by mobile money-transfer. A supplier many miles away would then take the part to the local matternet station for airborne dispatch via drone.
3. (countable) A design conveyed by contact from one surface to another; a heat transfer.
4. A soldier removed from one troop, or body of troops, and placed in another.
5. (medicine) A pathological process by which a unilateral morbid condition on being abolished on one side of the body makes its appearance in the corresponding region upon the other side.

Synonyms

• (act) transferal, transference
• (instance) transferal

Usage notes

In the United Kingdom education system the noun is used to define a move from one school to another, for example from primary school to secondary school. Contrast with transition which is used to define any move within or between schools, for example, a move from one year group to the next.

Related terms